diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 80efb7c9ae..ecd656aca9 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -1,10 +1,12 @@
 language: node_js
 node_js:
 - 4.0
+- 6.0
+before_install:
+- npm install -g mocha
 install:
 - npm install
 script:
-- gulp test
 - npm test
 after_success:
 - "./create-release-tag.sh"
diff --git a/gulp/tasks.js b/gulp/tasks.js
index f87a146d57..08960d7a96 100644
--- a/gulp/tasks.js
+++ b/gulp/tasks.js
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 */
 
 var gulp = require('gulp')
-var gutil = require('gulp-util')
+var mocha = require('gulp-mocha')
 var runSequence = require('run-sequence')
 
 gulp.task('default', function (done) {
@@ -35,7 +35,18 @@ gulp.task('watch', function (done) {
                'watch-assets', done)
 })
 
-gulp.task('test', function (done) {
-  gutil.log('Test that the app runs')
-  done()
+gulp.task('test', function () {
+  runSequence('generate-assets',
+              'mocha')
+})
+
+gulp.task('mocha', function () {
+  return gulp.src(['test/**/*.js'], { read: false })
+        .pipe(mocha({ reporter: 'spec' }))
+        .once('error', () => {
+          process.exit(1)
+        })
+        .once('end', () => {
+          process.exit()
+        })
 })
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 905c5800f9..5d46579ab2 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
   "scripts": {
     "start": "node start.js",
     "lint": "standard",
-    "test": "npm run lint"
+    "test": "gulp test && npm run lint"
   },
   "dependencies": {
     "basic-auth": "^1.0.3",
@@ -42,5 +42,9 @@
     "serve-favicon": "2.3.0",
     "standard": "^7.1.2",
     "sync-request": "^3.0.1"
+  },
+  "devDependencies": {
+    "gulp-mocha": "^3.0.1",
+    "supertest": "^2.0.0"
   }
 }
diff --git a/server.js b/server.js
index 9f4176c1aa..010334a5b9 100644
--- a/server.js
+++ b/server.js
@@ -206,3 +206,5 @@ utils.findAvailablePort(app, function (port) {
     })
   }
 })
+
+module.exports = app
diff --git a/test/mocha.opts b/test/mocha.opts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4a52320178
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/mocha.opts
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+--recursive
diff --git a/test/spec/sanity-checks.js b/test/spec/sanity-checks.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..397087bc32
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/spec/sanity-checks.js
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+/* eslint-env mocha */
+var request = require('supertest')
+var app = require('../../server.js')
+var path = require('path')
+var fs = require('fs')
+var assert = require('assert')
+
+/**
+ * Basic sanity checks on the dev server
+ */
+describe('The prototype kit', function () {
+  it('should generate assets into the /public folder', function () {
+    assert.doesNotThrow(function () {
+      fs.accessSync(path.resolve(__dirname, '../../public/javascripts/application.js'))
+      fs.accessSync(path.resolve(__dirname, '../../public/images/favicon.ico'))
+      fs.accessSync(path.resolve(__dirname, '../../public/stylesheets/application.css'))
+    })
+  })
+
+  it('should send with a well formed response for the index page', function (done) {
+    request(app)
+      .get('/')
+      .expect('Content-Type', /text\/html/)
+      .expect(200)
+      .end(function (err, res) {
+        if (err) {
+          done(err)
+        } else {
+          done()
+        }
+      })
+  })
+})